Featuring Champion Flat jockey Oisin Murphy who claimed the 2018 Eclipse Stakes, 2018 Haydock Sprint Cup and 2018 International Stakes, the campaign highlights the qualities needed by jockeys. A key message in the campaign is that in horseracing, there is no need to differentiate between riders based on gender.
The campaign also features the highly successful Lizzy Kelly who shot to fame on Boxing day 2015 when she became the first female jockey to win a Grade 1 race in Britain on Tea For Two in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase. The next year she won Europe’s richest handicap hurdle, the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury. The 27-year-old enjoyed her first Cheltenham Festival triumph last year, winning the Ultima Handicap Chase on Coo Star Sivola.
As part of #JustJockeys and to celebrate International Women’s Day, Southwell Racecourse hosted an all-female racecard. Held on Sunday, the meeting featured a mixed card of four Flat and four Jump races. The meet was run in conjunction with the sport’s Diversity in Racing Steering Group, the BHA, Women in Racing and Great British Racing.
Hayley Turner, who was the first female jockey to win at Royal Ascot for 32 years and has 840 wins to her name, said of the idea:
It’s great that Southwell is celebrating International Women’s Day with an all-female racecard. We ride against and at the same level as men so don’t think of ourselves as female jockeys, but this is a great way to celebrate the talented women in our sport.– Hayley Turner, Jockey.
Visitors to the Cheltenham Festival, which starts today will be wondering if they will see a repeat of the success that female jockeys enjoyed last year. Bryony Frost made history aboard Frodon as she became the first female jockey to ride a top-level Grade One Cheltenham Festival winner. Ten-time champion trainer Paul Nicholls called it “one of the best days ever” as Frost claimed the Ryanair Chase.
Shortly after Frost success, Trainer Emma Lavelle saw Kelly win on Coo Star Sivola which made a female trainer/rider combo that secured a fairytale success for owner Andrew Gemmell.
Away from Cheltenham, Khadijah Mellah broke new ground in the sport when she became the first hijab-wearing jockey to ride in and win, a race in Britain. The 20-year-old claimed the Magnolia Cup at Glorious Goodwood on Haverland after a photo-finish. News of the victory was greeted by rapturous applause by the crowd and Mellah featured in a TV documentary called Riding the Dream that told her story. The premiere of the documentary was shown at the Ritzy cinema in Brixton and among famous guests was Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.
